WUNRN
The Hindu - http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ncw-chief-for-legalising-sex-trade/article6538903.ece
INDIA – NATIONAL COMMISSION
FOR WOMEN CHAIR WILL INTRODUCE PROPOSAL FOR LEGALISATION OF PROSTITUTION -
DIVISIVE
India - Chairperson for the National Commission for
Women, Lalitha Kumaramangalam
India - Legalisation of prostitution would cover
working hours, remuneration and health care of sex workers, education and
economic alternatives for their families
The chairperson of the National Commission for Women
(NCW), Lalitha Kumaramangalam, has advocated legalising sex work to regulate
the trade and ensure better living conditions for women engaged in commercial
sex work. Legalising the trade, she says, will also bring down trafficking in
women and lower the incidence of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Ms. Kumaramangalam said she would put forth the proposal
at the empowered committee meeting of the Cabinet on November 8. “It
[legalisation] is meant to regulate the trade. A vast majority of women in sex
trade are trafficked; if it is legalised then commercial trafficking can be
dealt with stringently,” she told The Hindu.
In the absence of regulation, she said sex workers were
forced to serve clients in unhygienic and unhealthy conditions and without
condoms, which led to the spread of HIV and other STDs. “For instance in
Sonagachi [red-light area] in Kolkata, which is the best organised cooperative
of sex workers, there is no security for the children; clients are reluctant to
use condoms and become carriers of disease. All this can be changed, if we
regulate the profession,” she said.
The NCW chief said legalisation would cover various
aspects — from working hours, remuneration and health care of sex workers to
education and economic alternatives for their families. “There is a need to
offer employment alternatives to the women in the sex trade,” she said.
Activists disagree
While she asserts that legalisation will also help weed
out middlemen and brothel owners who exploit the women, activists campaigning
for a ban on the trade disagree.
“Legalisation of prostitution will only embolden the
traffickers. Based on our experience, we know that women are abused, coerced
and tricked into commercial sex trade. These women are not working by
themselves, they are part of a brothel and there are pimps involved. And it is
these people who make profit from the sex work; by legalising the trade, we
will end up serving them,” said Tinku Khanna, of Apne Aap Women Worldwide, a
grassroots movement to end sex trafficking.
Supreme Court lawyer and president of NGO Shakti Vahini
Ravi Kant not only demanded an end to the profession, but also strict
punishment for those who force women into the trade.
“The sad part is that in spite of the various
recommendations from the Supreme Court, no genuine efforts have been made by
any government to see that this social malice is eradicated,” he said.
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